RIP baby Max: PLEASE READ UPDATE THREAD

[Bazsmum]

Hi Kate just wondered how the boys were doing today, hope everything is okay

Ditto 

[bonnielass]

Hi Kate just wondered how the boys were doing today, hope everything is okay

[swampmaxmum]

He did another pee by himself today, but sadly still has to be assist fed as what he eats on his own wouldn't feed a little bird. Thanks for all the caring vibes and please do keep them coming for him    I opened Max's mouth to give him a pill and noticed that his tongue is paler and has a slight blue tinge, or rather isn't as pink as normal. I presume that's the kidney disease?!

[Leanne]

Great news Max - keep it up 

[pappilon]

That is wonderful , well done Max and Kate

I hope you all enjoy the sun and the good weather this weekend.

[Maddiesmum]

  WTG Max 

[Topsy Turvey]

very exciting news: he pee'd by himself this morning and cried for food. Then only ate a tiny bit of dry, teaspoon of Applaws and that was it but better than nothing. He's going to get lactulose today as he isn't pooing and the vet said to try a bit. He's been in a good mood too so far.

well done Max.  Keep up the good work xx

[swampmaxmum]

very exciting news: he pee'd by himself this morning and cried for food. Then only ate a tiny bit of dry, teaspoon of Applaws and that was it but better than nothing. He's going to get lactulose today as he isn't pooing and the vet said to try a bit. He's been in a good mood too so far.

[Gillian Harvey]

I don't know what to suggest, you'd think he'd want to pee more, with the subQ's wouldnt you? Hope things improve with his eating and peeing 

[swampmaxmum]

I think he's a bit more subdued and maybe nervous on it but must give it time I suppose. His bp was only 210/220 at the vet despite him being terrified. I can't get him to eat much on his own although tonight he ate away at his Applaws for 2 mins, but when I looked in the bowl he'd not managed to pick much up (it seems quite tricky food to get in to his mouth). I have had to assist feed him twice today and if he won't eat later then maybe again. Plus since the Istin he is now only peeing every 11 hours or so and it's taking quite a tummy rub to get him to go.....help!

[Bazsmum]

Finger's crossed that this med will do the trick! 

[swampmaxmum]

He went 12 hours without a wee (much tummy rubbing at 5am = success) which is just not good as the toxins build up but I just could not get him to go at midnight no matter how much fun tum rubs he had.
This morning he's eaten a tiny bit of i/d, which is too high in phosphorus (0.85 - double renal food) but at least it's wet food. No sign of any interest in dry food today so far. I plan to give him an assist feed at lunchtime if he's not eaten and try to get some sub cut fluids into him this evening. He's behaving normally at least, so far.

[pappilon]

Finger crossed for Max, i hope Istin is making him feel better.

[bonnielass]

Fingers crossed its working and he can begin to eat again on his own,

[swampmaxmum]

Max came back for the 2nd half so maybe the Istin is working already 

[Janeyk]

thanks! The vet said no for the moment, no drugs as Max's kidneys are still not working well and every drug puts extra strain. He may be put on fortekor but there's not much protein in his urine, but there is a bit of blood. Max has just been put on Istin, 1/8th a day, as his bp was a bit high so we have to wait a week or so on that and retest again. His urea was a bit down, in-house, but his creatinine still very high at 475 - last time it was 469. But he's eaten today, dry food only, and his mood seems all right so we just take it one day at a time.
If he starts deteriorating or howling again, I'll take him straight back in. I feel a bit flat and tired. Swampy was very senior and had me up for an hour at 4.30am and then as Max was eating I suppose I hoped his results would be better and they aren't.
Tonight he's going to get stressed as OH will be shouting at the TV with the football on    Longer term, if his kidneys stabilise, Max will have sub cuts and also possibly some kind of calming anti depressant, but he's not allowed anything but Istin yet. He's so sweet and freezes when he's being treated (so is easy to treat). I'm not going to assist feed him much if at all today as he ate his dry and he's not dehydrated.

Sorry to go on about both my boys, but it really helps as I feel so tired and helpless as they get older.

I can understand that, I'm really against giving mine anything at all unless really, really necessary tbh, hugs to both Max and Swampy 
Re: shouting at the TV, why do men have to do that? usually OH does it when I'm sat quiet reading or something and it nearly scares me out of my wits 

[swampmaxmum]

thanks! The vet said no for the moment, no drugs as Max's kidneys are still not working well and every drug puts extra strain. He may be put on fortekor but there's not much protein in his urine, but there is a bit of blood. Max has just been put on Istin, 1/8th a day, as his bp was a bit high so we have to wait a week or so on that and retest again. His urea was a bit down, in-house, but his creatinine still very high at 475 - last time it was 469. But he's eaten today, dry food only, and his mood seems all right so we just take it one day at a time.
If he starts deteriorating or howling again, I'll take him straight back in. I feel a bit flat and tired. Swampy was very senior and had me up for an hour at 4.30am and then as Max was eating I suppose I hoped his results would be better and they aren't.
Tonight he's going to get stressed as OH will be shouting at the TV with the football on    Longer term, if his kidneys stabilise, Max will have sub cuts and also possibly some kind of calming anti depressant, but he's not allowed anything but Istin yet. He's so sweet and freezes when he's being treated (so is easy to treat). I'm not going to assist feed him much if at all today as he ate his dry and he's not dehydrated.

Sorry to go on about both my boys, but it really helps as I feel so tired and helpless as they get older.

[Bazsmum]

Can you pill him Kate? I got Cerenia 16mg from my vet for my almost 18 yo Teddie (cat) They are for dogs and are being trialed on cats (you have to sign a concent form) I give her half a tab every other day and they are working a treat (she has not been sick in approx 6 weeks!) She also has kidney issues....anything is worth a go I suppose! 

I have checked with the vets about these tabs and they are only travel sickness pills for dogs....they do control nausea also! Worth asking about now methinks!

Good Luck and big hugs for the man himself! 

[swampmaxmum]

we're off to the vet for bloods at 10.15 this morning.  Max ate by himself (a little dry) last evening, but nothing since. Plus he vomited up some foamy phlegm this morning and has to have his tum rubbed to go to wee. I have to keep him calm but he needs these vet checks

[swampmaxmum]

Looks like I have to go away in mid June from sunday to tuesday night.

I just assist fed Max a plate of NF. It took 10 mins (of glaring at me like I'm an axe murderer) but a few mins later he was ok and purring again.  Does anyone know if NF has more or fewer calories than RCR (which has fewer than Hills k/d but k/d's harder to assist feed)? NF comes in a huge tin, far too big to get down him in a single day.
Max is going in to the vets for more in house or possibly lab bloods tomorrow as the vet is concerned that he's not eating very often by himself. I know he's not at all well but there is a strong element of stress involved too, but he has to have assist feeds and regular bloods. For some reason the vet won't let me give him Zylkene.

[Bazsmum]

  to you all! 

[swampmaxmum]

Max is very squeaky today but won't eat. It may be nerves. As soon as he saw the kaminox dropper he ran upstairs. I'm going to have to assist feed him again later and hope he eats - last night he just relaxed and ate some dry although still needed his tum rub. Then he had a bit of a runny tum (v little) in the night, possibly from eating renal that he's not used to.
I may have to go away in June for 2 days and am stressing about leaving both of them.

[swampmaxmum]

thanks xxx  He's refused to eat on his own since this morning, when he ate about 1/4 of one of those 80g i/d cans in 2 meals. Since then have had to assist feed him. I think he'll need a tummy rub to get up and use the tray later too. Otherwise I expect he would go eventually but the idea is to rid his body of toxins every 8 - 9 hours tops, so that means tummy rubs. He loves them so I think it will become a habit. But he hates the assist feeding but is just fine 5 minutes later, so it's worth it for 5 - 10 minutes of irritation for him a day. I think the food in his tum helps him too. I wish it would change but I can't just leave him until he's so ravenous that he eats something as that would be dangerous. He could just not eat for a couple of days.

[Maddiesmum]

He is probably nervous because he has been in and out the vets, his mummy is sticking needles in  him, she is feeding him differently and he knows she is worried.  I think I would be nervous too.  He seems to be doing well other than the eating phobia and the more you make of it the worse he will get sadly.  I wish we could all just wave magic wands and our cats would behave perfectly.  Mine would have to be a very big wand I am afraid.  try to look at the positives here, he was really poorly when they took him in and kept him over so he is doing much better, even if he is not doing perfectly.  He does manage to wee on his own sometimes and eat on his own.  So those are good things.  The lab results were not as high as the vets either.   

[swampmaxmum]

He did a wee without a tum rub this morning and ate off a hand held plate, but only about 1/4 of one of those tiny tins. So I will have to assist feed him later on too. He's so nervous, I don't know if he's nervous because he's feeling ill or he's not eating because he's just nervous. With Max it is so hard to tell. He looks ok and is playing and purring, but seems still food phobic. Last night I got him to eat a very little bit of chickeny junk food and he seems to have had a bit of a squishy reaction in the night, so his tum's not right. I'm going to try SEB, he's already on pepcid. It's very tricky.

[Maddiesmum]

I do hope Max has managed to eat and wee by himself:)

[pappilon]

I hope Max is feeling a bit better this afternoon.

[Bazsmum]

C'mon Max you need something to eat! 

This must be an awful thing to have to go through Kate....I am thinking of you all and sending more positive vibes~~~~~~

[swampmaxmum]

Max wouldn't eat anything but a few teaspoons of Applaws this morning, which is very disappointing as the last 2 days he's eaten his dry first up, and quite well. His mood is ok but he's not at all hungry which is not a good sign. I assist fed him a plate of NF and he's had a good cuddle. I hope he'll feel better later as he got pepcid but it's a huge worry even when they are behaving ok but show no interest in food.

[swampmaxmum]

Poor little guy got his first sub cuts from me tonight. I think we need a little practice! Anyhow he didn't get much, probably less than 50mls as the vet said a golf ball size hump. Then we couldn't get the needle off!
Swampy may need some too so I'd better get better at it and fast.
He ate a little Applaws tonight but only very little but I think he's had enough (proper meal dry this am, 2 assist feed plates of NF) given that he doesn't do much all day, so will leave him peaceful until the morning when I hope he will eat some dry again.
As for his tray visits, he is due another tummy massage at about 11 to try to get him to wee. He just doesn't seem to want to go on his own. Don't think we got enough fluids down him to make a huge diff.

[Maddiesmum]

Well it's quite a difference in the reading though isn't it?  I think you are right to carry on as you are right now as he obviously seems to be responding in his own way, even managing to eat on his own sometimes.  Hope he continues to do so and increases his self feeding rather than you having to do it.    Hugs and vibes down the M1 xxx

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

Topping up the positive vibes.  Come on Max - you can do it 

[swampmaxmum]

The vet rang with the lab bloods at 12 but we've been offline all day -a BT outage for half of southern England! Max's creatinine lab reading is 370 and his urea 17. He doesn't have much protein in his urine so won't be put on fortekor straight away. I'm still assist feeding NF 2 - 3 times per day but he did eat a dry meal this morning and he's drinking. We may try the sub cut fluids later on....poor Max as we've not done it before.
The vet says the creatinine reading isn't 'better' than his, just differently measured but it is less than the 440 when he was hospitalised, at least a bit. Max has been ok today, he hid in a box in the bedroom at one point when OH had the telly on loud though so he's still very nervy.
yes, please do keep sending him lots of vibes , thanks 

[Maddiesmum]

Hope Max has managed some food and liquids and had a pee today 

[bonnielass]

How is Max doing today Kate ,is there any inprovement in his eating ,im still sending those healing vibes for him

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

His little paw is still red where he had the drip in. I think he's licked it. Should I just leave it or is there anything I can put on it?

Isseys are quite sore too but i dont think theres anything we can do kate 

[swampmaxmum]

thanks for the support, it means such a lot. Max hasn't eaten any more by himself since this morning but he's had 2 little assisted NF meals. He's also not drinking or weeing that much, so I must syringe more water into him. My previous kidney cats all drank and wee'd a lot so this is quite weird. He last went at 3 this afternoon. Today he's very sleepy but a short while ago he came over and sat on me and had a tummy rub and a purr.
I didn't get the official lab results today, maybe tomorrow, otherwise it will be after the weekend.  I will treat 'the cat, not the numbers' as the CRF site says. Before he went into hospital he had a night where he howled all night, I think that is one way to tell when his creatinine goes even higher.

His little paw is still red where he had the drip in. I think he's licked it. Should I just leave it or is there anything I can put on it?

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

I think that makes a lot of sense - it wasn't so long ago we had none of these blood tests

we could only go by the way our cats looked and behaved - many lived to a good age without having any apparent serious disease, but it stands to reason a fair number must have had underlying problems

Totally agree.


Sending Max lots of love....and of course Swampy ....and You kate xx

[Kay and Penny]

I think that makes a lot of sense - it wasn't so long ago we had none of these blood tests

we could only go by the way our cats looked and behaved - many lived to a good age without having any apparent serious disease, but it stands to reason a fair number must have had underlying problems

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

..... He also ate a normal dry food meal and he looks ok..........................

Thats what matters.  So the numbers show that he isn't OK but he doesn't know that and so long as he's eating again and behaving more or less normally and happily then you should try to be happy too.  Not the same situation I know because Korky has chronic renal problems rather than acute, but last November his creatinine had shot up up to 413 from 290 in March and I was worried to death.  Gradually, however, I realised that he was behaving much the same as before so I figured that if he could cope then I could too. His reading for March this year is up again (434) but apart from weeing more he isn't in any obvious distress. It looks as though Max's body might be  learning to live its problems and if so thats good - not as good as overcoming the problems of course but a very positive sign.   With the subcuts he could do well - lots of cats do    .